


Don't Fix Me

by Darkness113



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Big Brother Sans, Depressing, F/F, F/M, Graphic Description, Innocent Papyrus, Minor Alphys/Undyne, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Original Character(s), Possessive Sans, Post-Game(s), Post-True Route, SansxOC - Freeform, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Slow To Update, Undertale Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-01 16:41:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6527965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkness113/pseuds/Darkness113
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nova is a normal 21 year old, supporting herself through college. One night she decides to try a new restaurant, Grillby's. Things don't go quite as expected. The experience leaves her dealing with some ghosts from her past. Will she let a certain skeleton and his friends help her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Night at Grillby's Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING! Mature subject matter!
> 
> So this is my First Undertale fanfic and I'm pretty excited. Not sure how often I'll be updating since I have a full time job, but I made sure to write at least a few chapters in advance to make sure I was gonna want to write it. Will be a very slow burn, so if that's not your cup of tea you may be disappointed. 
> 
> Also, forewarning, there will be rape and other depressing subject matters, such as self hurting and drug use.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

You left the bar through the front, considering how late at night it was. It was just past two in the morning. Closing the bar had been relatively easy considering it was only a Wednesday night, not to mention the chilly temperature. 

However, this late at night, that meant that the bus that stopped just around the corner wouldn’t be here till 3. As if on cue, a swift current of air seemed to cut through you, chilling you to your core. You looked around, glancing up and down the street.

Even though it was on the opposite side of town from the beach, Pine street was still a fairly popular nightspot, especially for those who wouldn’t, of couldn’t, make it downtown. However, that was mostly on the weekends. 

Right now the street couldn’t seem more empty. Which used to not be a problem for you. However, ever since the monsters had come through the barrier, no place was really safe at night. Groups of humans often roamed around, looking for monsters they could pick off, and recently monsters had started grouping up for safety, causing many to think they were planning some kind of hostile take over. However no one was really safe. Most of the packs were just disgusting lowlifes looking for trouble. They would even do serious damage to other humans and blame it on them being ‘monster lovers’.

You sighed and rubbed your arms. You didn’t usually take a jacket to work since the bar got so hot and half the time you’d forget it anyways. You definitely regretted that tonight.

You glanced at the only building on the street with lights still on, and new place called Grillby’s. The building definitely stood out from the rest of the block. Instead of the dark gray concrete common of most buildings, it was actually made of brick, with warm wood accents. 

Before she had even made up her mind, she was heading there. She knew it was owned by a monster. She had seen it on the news multiple times, since it had been vandalized several times with graffiti and many people had been petitioning to get it shut down.

It made no difference to her. Her stomach growled, and as long as she could get some food, or even just a warm place to stand till the bus got there, she would take a chance. Everyone deserved a chance.

She finally found herself in front of the door, and couldn’t help her slight hesitation, before she pushed her way inside. The atmosphere inside was so… homey. It was quite warm, and she immediately felt herself relax as the cold seemed to drain away. She also soon discovered the main reason for this was who she could only assume was the bartender. He was a fairly tall, with an impeccable looking suit and glasses on him. Oh, and he just so happened to be made out of fire. 

You knew that you would be seeing unusual beings, but you hadn’t been quite prepared for that. Trying not to be rude, you move your eyes away and take in your surroundings as you walk towards the bar. You notice there aren’t many people. There’s a pair of dogs that seem to be a couple in the corner, but they’re too lost in each other to notice you come in. A bunny type creature appears to be passed out in one of the booths as you pass by. The only other people there are the bartender from earlier and and a shorter skeleton sitting at the bar talking to him. He had on a blue jacket, and you vaguely wondered if he got cold since he also seemed to have on basketball shorts and slippers

You made it to the bar and were about to sit down when you noticed the two monster about three stools over giving you odd looks. You can feel your cheeks flush slightly.

“I’m sorry!” you managed to stammer out as they continue staring at you, before exchanging glances. “I can totally understand if you don’t want me here. I’m sorry. I’ll just see myself..”

“No no,” The skeleton cuts you off. “You can stay, we were just surprised to see you come in.”

You feel yourself bite your lips quickly. “Are you sure?”

He nods, and after the bartender doesn’t give an indication he wants you to leave you carefully slide onto one of the stools.

The fire being walks over to stand in front of you, but doesn’t say anything. You get the idea that he isn’t much of a talker.

“I’m not sure what time you close or anything, but if you happen to still be serving food, is there any way I could get some fries? Or anything really, whatever you happen to have.”

Even though you can’t distinguish any eyes behind his glasses, he seems to stare at you for a second before giving you a slight nod and heading through a door to what you assume is the kitchen.

Once he’s gone, you're painfully aware of how awkward this is. Even though you don’t turn your head to check, you can feel the skeleton watching you. You do your best to pretend like you don’t notice, but it’s pretty hard to act nonchalant. 

Finally the silence was broken. “So, what a girl like you doing in a place like this.” 

You just give him a shrug. “I was hungry. And Cold, This place seems ok. Thought I’d give it a shot.”

Since he’s actually talking to you, you feel like it’s ok to turn and face him a bit, and you notice he seems like he doesn’t really buy your answer. He let’s it slide and tries for a different approach.

“Well if you don’t mind my asking, what are you doing out so late at night. Don’t you watch the news?” 

Again you give him a vague shrug. “Just happened to be out.” You definitely consider yourself to be a monster supporter in general, but heck, anyone could be up to no good. You decide the play it safe, rather than be sorry. 

Soon after, the bartender is back with your food, and you stomach rumbles as you eye the delicious looking burger and fries. 

“Wow, thank you! This looks great." He gives a curt nod before returning to his position next to the skeleton and wiping down the glasses he’d washed from the day.

When you're just about half way through your meal, the skeleton calls out to you once again.

“Come on kid, throw me a bone here, at least tell me your name.”

You’re so thrown off by the unsuspected joke that you stare at him for a moment. He starts to get a little unnerved, until you finally bust out laughing, and he smiles a bit, even though he’s always kinda smiling.

“So you’re a funny bone huh?” You tease, and then sigh, but you notice him snickering. You let the silence after your joke last a few moments before you break it. 

“Nova” you say, before digging back into your food. After you finish, you realize that if he knows your name, you should probably ask his in return. “What about you?” You ask in a slightly more shy voice than you would have liked.

“The name’s Sans, and this here is Grillby, the owner of this place.” The fire being once again nods at you, and you smile back. For some reason you like him, even though you didn’t think you’d ever hear a word from him.

You look at your phone to check the time, and you notice it’s fifteen before three. Even though the driver’s aren’t supposed to, on dead nights like this they have been know to get places and leave them early, so you decide not to take the chance. You politely ask for your check and leave more than enough before quickly hopping of the stool.  
“Thank you for the food Grillby! It was great. Bye guys.” They both give small waves as you make your way to the door, but just as you're about to grab hold of the handle…


	2. A Night at Grillby's Part 2

It takes you a second to realize that you’re on the ground, and that there is a throbbing pain in your ribs. You look up and notice a group of men filing into the restaurant. After they’re all in, there’s about ten of them, and they’re all talking loudly, completely ignoring you. They do however notice the two monsters at the bar.

“Aw crap,” one of them says, “This must be that place on the news. Look at this dump, taking space away from some great _human_.” Sans and Grillby seem to tense immediately, as if they’d been through this before.

You looked over to the corner where the dogs had been earlier, but they must have left when you were busy devouring your food. 

The group walked up to the bar, and Sans got to his feet and stood directly in the path of them and Grillby. The men outright laughed at him.

“What little man? What do you think you can do against all of us?” The group laughed again, rallying behind who must have been their leader.

“Look, just leave,” Sans said, and you noticed that the white lights of his eyes had faded, leaving only dark sockets behind, “Or else you are gonna have a bad time.”

As soon as the man made the smallest movement towards him, Sans left eye began glowing. But it wasn’t just his eye, the guy began glowing too, and with the flick of his bony wrist he sent the man flying to the other side of the bar.

Well, this seemed like an excellent time to leave. You slowly opened the door, trying not to draw any attention to yourself, and managed to successfully make it out the door without being noticed.

You cast a hurried look around, deciding on what you should do. You pulled out your phone to call the police when you noticed a shadow out of the corner of your eye. It seemed like someone had moved down the alleyway next to the restaurant. You type in the numbers, but then lock your phone, deciding to figure out what was going on in the alley first.

Of course, you’re definitely hesitant to go into an alley at this time of night, and you were definitely going to miss the bus at this rate, but the two monsters inside didn’t seem like they deserved this. You needed to help them.

You crept along the side of the building, trying to be careful not to make any noise as you made your way to the back of the building. You’re immediately glad you followed your instincts. In the back alley behind Grillby’s was another group of the men. Two of them were poised to open the back door, that seemed to lead to the kitchen, and one was carrying a huge bucket.

A bucket? That definitely seemed like a weird weapon. Oh Shit. Your thoughts caught up with you just as the other two managed to open the door, holding it for the bucket to be brought in. You lunged just as soon as you thought it was safe and sprinted to be able to grab the door before it closed. You peeked your head around the corner and saw them, just getting ready to open the door leading to behind the bar, where you could just make out Grillby through a small window at eye level. This was it. She had to think fast. 

“Stop!” You yelled as you hurled herself at the men, and they turned around just as one of them had opened the door. Grillby looked over shocked, but you couldn’t see Sans anywhere. You ran and threw all your weight at the back goon, the one holding the bucket, which immediately fell to the ground with loud thud. The water pooled on the floor of the bar, and Grillby jumped on the counter to avoid it. 

Satisfied with your small victory, you let yourself smile, before you realized what an awful position you were in. Grillby looked poised to jump over the puddle to come to your aid, when he was suddenly hit with a chair from behind.

When your brain finally kicked in, you bolted for the door. Unfortunately, you hadn’t been quite quick enough. You felt a hand grab you, and then another. You tried to whirl around and use your momentum to hit one of them. Luckily for you, you hit someone. Unfortunately you only hit their shoulder and seemed to piss them off more than do any damage.

“Fucking bitch!” Before you had time to realize what was happening, you were being carried. As much as you struggled, there were three of them and one of you. 

Soon, you were once again in the alley, and you were thankful when you found yourself on the pavement and not in their grasp, no matter how rough the landing had been.

Unfortunately your relief didn’t last long, since you soon felt a boot connect with the side of your face. You were so shocked you couldn’t do anything for a second, and then you felt another kick connect to your stomach. You stared up at them, daze from the trauma, trying to get your body to react to the thoughts in your head.

“What’s your problem?!” One of them yelled just inches from your face.

You felt yourself being lifted up, and then you were immediately slammed into the dumpster behind the bar. You hear a sickening crack. 

“Why would you stick up for those piece of shit monsters?” 

One of them punched you in the stomach, right near where you had been kicked, and you felt your vision blur. You wanted nothing more than to block out the pain, but you could feel the blood pounding inside you, and it seemed to make everything feel more intense.

“What, are you just mad that no human guys wanna get with a dirty cunt like you?”

You didn’t respond, just tried your best to look away, anywhere but at the man’s face. There was a flyer on the ground promoting a new clothing store opening. They were having buy one get one…

You thoughts were cut off by a crisp slap to the face. While you were still recovering, a hand roughly grabbed your face, forcing you to look at the face it belonged too. 

“Look bitch, I’m just trying to help you. You should be grateful that I’m going to try to set you back on the right patch of fucking humans instead of letting you rot with those filthy _monsters_.”

It took a moment, but the words finally registered in your slightly rattled brain. You begin to struggle, using everything you can muster to try and free yourself, but the other two men step in, each restraining half of your body.

With his new found free hands, the center creep wasted no time in reaching both hands up to squeeze your breasts. At that, something triggered inside you, despite all the pain you were feeling, you filled your lungs. You started to scream, pretty loudly, but you were disappointed with how short the sound was, as a hand soon covered you mouth. You began wondering if you had gotten to make a sound at all, or if it had all been wishful thinking. 

Annoyed with your squirming, he takes a different approach. He directs his other free hand to the button of your pants, and you try harder to wriggle free, but to no avail. Soon your jeans are roughly being pulled down your legs. Fortunately your boots they are tucked into stop them from going down past the top of your calves. 

Unfortunately, he brings out a knife and simply slices the middle section, and then your legs are free to be spread. Soon that same knife is being used on your underwear, but you can feel him cutting your hips on both sides also, digging the knife into your tender flesh intentionally.

As soon as you are completely exposed to the night, you realize just how cold you are. It must be below freezing, and you began shivering and the cool air hits your most sensitive parts.

With one hand still covering your mouth, you feel the fingers of his other hand at your entrance. The tears that you’ve been holding back come surging forward. Uncontrollable sobs start to rack your body.

And then you hear it. The laughing. The men holding you are actually laughing. Somehow helping doesn’t even compare to how much hatred you feel for their pleasure in your suffering.

Distracted by your sudden rage, you forget about the finger probing around your entrance until it entered you. That was it. You’d had lost all hope. You weren’t going to get out of this. Even if you did, what would be left of you? 

Not to mention the pain. You were dry, so the intruding finger caused unbearable friction. You wanted so bad to give up in that moment. You were so defeated, so outnumber, so close to being broken that you felt like you could FEEL yourself shattering, in the very center of your being. 

Soon he grew bored with just fingering, and when he finally pulled them out, blood came with them. He took just enough time to push up your shirt before he was fumbling with his own pants.

You closed your eyes, trying to block out what was about to happen. Even when you felt… it… you did you best to think of anything else. You didn’t realize you were biting your lip until you felt the blood trickle down your chin.

However, nothing could distract you from the pain when he finally pressed himself into you. The blood actually seemed to help a small bit, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of lubrication. 

He buried himself to the hilt, giving a small hiss of pleasure, and then wasted no time in trying pump into you are hard as he could.

You tried so hard to block it out. The pain, the sounds, the smells. But it never worked. Somehow these were the kinds of things you remembered so vividly, in such excruciating detail that it made you sick. You tried everything. Thinking of things that made you happy, thinking of blackness, even things that made you sad. But nothing could take you mind away from what was happening. Every thrust was like shock pulling you back into reality. Finally, you let your body untense, giving in to your fate.

Everything after that happened so fast, your brain could barely keep up. One minute the asshole was in front of you, the next, he was surrounded in a blue light. You weren’t really sure what happened after that, immediately curling in on yourself once you were free and trying to calm yourself down. When you looked back up all of your assailants were grouped a little ways away. A glowing blue figure was standing front of them, and then you saw him snap his fingers. 

You has never seen anything like that. From seemingly nowhere, a giant, floating skull had appeared. It wasn’t human, but she wasn’t sure what animal it could possibly be either. The skull began glowing too, the same shade of blue. She didn’t know how, but she could just tell something awful was going to happen.

“STOP!” You yell, hoping to get the attention of the figure, knowing full well that you aren’t going to be able to move over there. You seem to get their attention, because they turn their head towards you.

You really almost don’t recognize Sans. He seems so different from the guy you’d met in the bar. But sure enough, the blue glow is emanating from his left eye socket. After taking in your appearance, he only seems to be even more mad, and turns back to the men, cowering together.

“Sans, please!” You can’t let him do this. “This is what they want! They want people to think you’re violent and out of control! Don’t let them do this to you! It’s not worth it!" You practically scream. "I’m not worth it!”

Something about what you said catches his attention, and he slowly turns to face you again. The other skull disappears from existence, but the glow remains in his left eye, the other one completely blank. 

You stare back at him, not really sure what else to do. Finally, the white returns to his eyes, and he finally looks normal. He walks over to where you are huddled near the dumpster and leans down to your eye level.

Before you can talk to him, you hear the police sirens turning the corner, and soon enough the officers are storming the alley way.


	3. Human94

The officers, who apparently were not as well informed as they should be, quickly arrested not only the three assholes, but also Sans, who thankfully, looked more normal. He still didn’t look very happy, but he wasn’t a glowing, raging mess, so that was a plus. However, you almost turned into a raging monster yourself when they tried to move in on Sans with the cuffs. 

Doing your best to cover yourself with the remains of your jeans, you try to scoot between Sans and the officers, trying to tell them of how Sans had actually attempted to rescue you, but they insisted that he needed to be taken in for questioning, and that is was standard. 

From behind you, you felt something soft touch your skin, and you noticed that he had placed his hoodie on your shoulders. You were pretty thankful. It was just long enough to be a short dress on you, and you no longer had to worry about trying to cover yourself. Of course, you didn’t mind how soft and warm it was either.

“It’s ok kid,” You heard him say, but in a very tired sounding voice. “I’ll just go with them. It’ll be ok.” You sighed, but then resigned. The officers didn’t cuff him in the end, but did escort him to the car. Soon after an ambulance arrived, and you were put on a stretcher and loaded in since you weren’t really in any condition to be moving around. 

You wished that you could have just passed out. You wished you could have just woken up, already settled into your bed. But no, you went through everything. 

Every jolt in the ambulance made you wince. Especially your stomach. Your head was also beginning to pound, and you were thinking that you might lose that awesome meal Grillby had made you. 

Once you were at the hospital, you didn’t have long to wait. There weren’t many people at that time of night, and it seemed like you got some special clearance since you weren’t a walk in.

First, they’d asked you if you wanted to do a rape kit, and you said yes. They said they weren’t sure if they’d be able to get any dna since he hadn’t exactly, finished, but they had written a report on you injuries for the police in case you wanted to press charges.

Next you were taken in for some X Rays. You had a few cracked ribs, but nothing majorly wrong. You were given a brace to help minimize movement while you healed. Most of the doctors wanted you to stay overnight, so they could give you some stronger painkillers, but you refused. After you had been patched up to the hospital standards and given a prescription for painkillers, you were free to go.

You went down to the main lobby and waiting room, where you were checked out, filling out a few forms that you’d normally do before hand but weren’t able to. Just as you thought you had everything in order and were preparing to head for the main exit, you heard someone calling for you.

“Miss Nova?” Miss Nova Harrison?” The man calling out to you was a police officer, and shorter man a little on the rounder side who had a kind face. Another officer was standing next to him, a much taller guy, with an angular face and cold brown eyes. “My name is Daniel and this is my partner Adam.” He gives a curt nod. “We were just wondering if we could take your statement about what happened last night.”

You couldn’t help but sigh. You really didn’t wanna do this right now. There wasn’t really a point in putting it off though, so you nodded and followed them to some nearby couches

“Ok Nova, just start from the beginning and tell me everything just like you remember it ok? Maybe let’s start with why you were out so early in the morning?”

You sighed, and took a deep breath before launching into your explanation. 

“Well, I work at a bar across the street, I got out around two in the morning and decided to wait at Grillby’s till the next bus came.” You couldn’t help but notice the sour look on Adam’s face. “As I was leaving just before three, a group of about ten men came in and started threatening the owner, so I decided to slip out and call the police. Just when I was about call though I saw three more guys in the back, and decided that they could do more harm that I might be able to stop then the good of me calling the cops, so I followed them.” Again, Adam’s face turned to disgust at your words, and you couldn’t help but get offended. “They were gonna throw a bucket of water on Grillby, who’s made out of fire, so I followed them inside the kitchen and stopped them. Then they dragged me back out and…”

Despite your desire to get it over with, your throat tightened, and you couldn’t get anything past your lips. Instead of looking at Adam’s face again, you tried to focus on Daniel, who gave you a patient smile.

“Do I really have to explain what we all know happened?” You hated the way your voice sounded.

“I’m sorry but yes. I doubt anyone guilty will admit to anything and no one else was around.”

You sighed, and took a few minutes before you continued. “They…, well…, HE raped me. The other two just held me so he could. Roughed me up a bit too. Gave me some cracked ribs. Had a rape kit run earlier if you have anymore questions.”

You hoped that would be the end of it. You were not ready to be thinking about the events of last night yet.

“When the police came down the alley, they said they didn’t see anyone on top of you, just your ripped clothing, a pile of hurt men, and a _monster_.” It was the first, and you hoped last time you’d ever hear Adam speak.

“That _monster_ saved me!” You couldn’t help the way your voice raised. “Do you know what that creep said to me?! He told me that he was doing me a favor by raping me, trying to steer me back to nice, _human_ guys like him!”

You hadn’t realised how loud you had gotten, until you felt all the eyes in the hospital waiting room on you. You hadn’t realised you had started crying until the tears were blurring your vision. You hadn’t realized how ashamed you were until that moment.

You couldn’t do anything, but continue to stand there, helplessly at a loss of what to do. Even Adam looked embarrassed, and both officers muttered apologies. Daniel handed you a business card and told you to call them if you needed to talk before making a quick exit.

Finally, you forced you feet to move forward, not really sure where you were going. Your legs worked but felt like jelly, not to mention the pain in your more sensitive areas. Eventually you got tired of the stares from everyone you passed, and you began paying attention to the signs and made you way to a bathroom.

Thankfully it was empty, and you were able to rinse your face off in peace. You took a moment to look yourself over in the mirror. You looked awful. You had a nasty bust in your lip that hadn’t quite scabbed over yet. Your right cheek was swollen and a little discolored. But the worst part in your opinion was your eyes. They were normally a light green, somewhat the color of emeralds, and were one of your favorite features. Right now they were darker, dimmer, than normal, and the huge bags under your eyes looked awful. All that added to the puffiness and slight redness from crying and you looked like a mess.

After you had let yourself calm down and did you best to make you eyes look less puffy, you made you way outside the hospital. The sun was just beginning to rise, and you weren’t really sure what to do with yourself. You weren’t close enough to walk home, and even if you were, you weren’t sure you’d be stable enough making the trip on your own. 

San’s jacket was still wrapped around you, though the hospital had found a spare pair of scrub pants for you. You vaguely wondered when you would be able to return it to him. As if his phone could tell you were thinking about him, it began to ring. You checked the caller ID, but of course the name, Paps, didn’t mean anything to you. 

You answered timidly, “Hello…?”

“Hey kid it’s me. Just wanted to make sure you were doing ok. Where are you?”

You were surprised to hear Sans’s voice, but admittedly relevied to find he hadn’t been kept at the jail.

“I just got out of Memorial Hospital, but don’t worry about any of that. Did everything go ok at the police station?”

There’s a silence at the other end, and you wish you could see him right now to figure out what was wrong.

“Everything went ok over here. Look, do you need a ride home or anything? I gotta get my stuff back sometime and it’d be like killin’ two birds with one stone.”

Of course he just wanted his hoodie back, and of course now you had his phone too. Guilt suddenly hangs over you like a blanket. Lending you his coat must have been incredibly inconvenient for him. 

“I’m so sorry!” You burst out in a panicked hurry. “Of course you can come get you stuff, or i could even get a taxi and bring it to you…”

“Relax kid, I’m not mad or nothin’ “ He says quickly after hearing the tone of your voice. “It was the least I could do. Listen, just hang out there and we’ll be there to pick you up in a few minutes ok?”

We? You wonder who else could be coming with him, and mutter a small ok into the phone before hanging up.

You decide to sit down on the bench closest to the parking lot while you wait. It’s still pretty cold, but with each inch of sun that’s revealed the temperature rises. The stress of the last few hours seems to finally be lifting as the warming glow of the sun spreads across your face, and for the first time you realise how tired you are. 

After that, every thought is revolved around how much you wish you were in bed, and how you're only going to close your eyes for a second…

 

 

“Nova?”

You’d never realized how great sleep felt.

“Nova?!”

Even though you could tell someone wanted you attention, well quite frankly, fuck that. Sleep felt so good right now. This was something you needed.

But eventually you couldn’t take the shaking anymore. Slowly, you forced your eyes open, not really comprehending what you were seeing at first. It was just dark spots to you. As you focused more, you noticed the small white dots in the blackness. Realization slowly came to you.

“Sans?” His smile widened, and for some reason that made you feel good, seeing him smile genuinely for the first time. 

“You must be a great sleeper, kid. Looks like you can do it with your eyes closed.” Yup, that was Sans. 

“BROTHER, THERE IS NO NEED TO TORTURE THE HUMAN WITH YOUR INCESSANT JOKES. I HEAR HOSPITALS ARE WHERE HUMANS GO TO BE HEALED AND YOUR JOKES CANNOT BE HELPING!” 

This voice was definitely not one you’d heard before. If you hadn’t been awake before, you were now.

“Uh, Paps, maybe you could lower the volume a bit. Loud noises aren’t great for healing humans either, ‘specially sleepy ones.”

“BUT OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL DO ANYTHING I CAN TO HELP A FRIEND OF MY BROTHER!” 

His voice was barely any quieter, but you didn’t really mind. In fact, just the energy he was giving off made you feel a bit better. You gave Papyrus a big smile, even if he wouldn’t understand what you were thankful for. It didn’t seem like he needed to know though, 

Before you knew what was happening you felt his bony arms wrapping around you, and then you were in the air in a comforting, but crushing hug.

“HUMAN, YOU SEEM NICE! I DO HOPE WE CAN ALSO BE FRIENDS!”

His words barely reached you. The flash of pain was so intense your vision blurred. 

“Woah, woah, Paps! Be careful! Put her down while she’s still healing ok?”

Papyrus set you down gently on your feet, but they weren’t very stable at the moment, so you had  
to grab onto Papyrus’s arms to steady yourself.

“Human, are you alright?” This time Papyrus really had calmed down his speech quite a bit, and she could practically feel the genuine concern in his voice.

Your legs shook for just a few more seconds, and you took a few more to steady your breathing. 

The skeletons shared a quick look, having their own conversation without any words. 

“Nova, you really ok? If you need, we can pull the car up to the curb here.”  
Before you could answer, Papyrus had already headed back into the vast parking lot, presumably to get the car they had come in. 

“Your brother seems like a really nice person.” You say to avoid falling into an awkward silence.

“Heh, yhea. He really is…” He hesitates for a moment, “Look, I gotta know, how’d your hospital visit go? How bad was it?”

You sighed, and let yourself relax. You hadn’t really been aware of how much effort you were putting into trying to act normal until you felt the relief of letting the facade fade.

God what were you thinking. You didn’t need to bother him or his brother with anymore of your silly worries. It was perfectly clear from last night that he had more than his fair share of problems. One bad night for you couldn’t compare to what all monsters must be going through.

So, you forced a smile back on your face and hoped your momentary lapse wasn’t too noticeable.

“Don’t worry, I’m completely fine. Just some bruising and soreness, really.” You gave your best smile, trying to make it genuine since you really were happy since it could have been much worse.

Sans just smiled back, but in a way that kind of unnerved you. 

“That’s great to hear. So, if you don’t mind, can I have my jacket back?” 

“Shit, of course! And your phone is here too! I’m sorry! I should have given it back as soon as you got here.”

You carefully shrugged out of the jacket, making sure not to dump anything from the pockets, and handed it back to Sans. You noticed his eyes glued to your stomach as soon as you took it off, and you were almost offended until you remembered the brace you had been forced into.

Sans gave you an accusatory look, and you avoided eye contact with him.

“I may have a few cracked ribs.” You admit quietly. 

“Shit!” Even though his eye wasn’t glowing the way you had seen it at Grillby’s, you did notice the soft glow starting to surround his left eye. 

“Look Nova,” He started softly, “I’m so sorry. I should have made sure you were ok sooner. I should have handled the whole situation better.”

You were at a loss for words. You were thankful he’d stepped in at all. 

“Sans…” He looks at you when you say his name, and even though his eyes are just pinpricks of light you can tell he is truly regretting not getting to you sooner. “It’s fine, really. I’m just… you know… thankful that you stepped in at all. There were so many of those scum bags, and you couldn’t have known more were coming.”

Both of you fell silent, not really sure what to say. Thankfully, you didn’t have to suffer long because only a few moments later Papyrus pulled up in a plain looking blue two door hybrid. Sans offered you the front seat so that you wouldn’t have to squeeze into the back. You gave Papyrus the directions, and then the three of you were off.

You were actually pretty surprised at how good of a driver Papyrus was. Not that you thought he’d be bad, he was just much more controlled than you might have though, never going a single digit over the speed limit and obeying every traffic law to a T.

It was about a ten minute drive from the hospital to your apartment building, You lived on the second floor, so you told them to just drop you off wherever and you’d be fine. However, both brothers insisted it was no problem them to walk you to your door.

After it was clear they wouldn’t let you make the short trip alone, the rolled your eyes and smiled. After getting out of the car, you had to walk around to the other side of the building and go up the first flight of stairs. You apartment happened to be of the end, close to the stairs, and you were thankful you didn’t have far to go. 

Both physically and emotionally your tanks were running on empty, When you got to the steps you sighed and took them one at a time, much slower than you normally would.

“HUMAN NOVA, YOU SHOULD LET THE GREAT PAPYRUS CARRY YOU! YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY QUITE TIRED AND SHOULD BE RESTING!”

“Don’t worry, I’m good Papyrus. Besides, I can practically feel my bed, and we’ll be reunited soon.” You continued following the tall skeleton up the stairs, digging in your pocket for you keys and then finding the one for your apartment door. You found it just as your reached the top of the steps, and when you looked up, you nearly dropped it.

Through Papyrus’s ribs, you could see your door, but on the front in big red letters, were the words ‘MONSTER LOVER’. God you hoped that was paint. 

“HUMAN, WHICH APARTMENT WAS YOURS AGAIN?” You sighed, and made your way past the unmoving body… er, skeleton of Papyrus. You unlocked the door, and everything looked ok at first glance. You only had a studio apartment, so the only room you couldn’t see was the bathroom. Your space was fairly small, but you didn’t have much furniture, just a small breakfast table with two chairs, a bed with a small table, and a bookshelf. 

Sure, it wasn’t glamorous, but it could be a lot worse, and you didn’t really need much space anyways. Plus, you felt like you’d made it pretty homey. The few things you did have were nice, and you covered a lot of the wall space with drawings to make up for the lack of decorations.

“Hey, you got a cell phone? We could give you our numbers in case you ever need ‘em.” Sans says while rubbing the back of his skull. “I mean, just if you want.”

You gave him a soft smile, but you're seriously debating how rude it would be to decline vs how much you didn’t want to continue to bother them. Eventually you decided it really would be rude to refuse, and decide you can simply not call. “I mean, you don’t have to worry or anything,” you say as you hand over your phone.

San’s goes to hit your home button, but suddenly his eye sockets narrow. You take a moment to wonder how his bones move like that, but for now you write it off as a monster thing. You’re knocked out of your thoughts by said skeleton’s voice.

“I’m guessing that your phone didn’t look like this before last night.” He hands you back the phone, and you really look at it for the first time since leaving Grillby’s. You don’t know how you missed it but you screen is basically shattered, and some of the pieces are even missing. You take it over the charger by your bed and plug it in when your pressing the buttons does nothing. You feel your face fall when the charging indicator never comes on. Yup. That is one dead phone. And of course you hadn’t wanted to spend the money on the insurance.

“Ah, well,” He seemed to be trying to think of something, and his eyes lit up when he came to some sort of conclusion. “I notice that you’ve got a laptop, mind if I see that for a second instead?”

You gave him a curious look, but went and flipped open you computer that was sitting on your bed. Sans immediately went to work on something, but you decided not to be a backseat browser, even though it was your computer.

“Want anything to drink Papyrus? Sans? I have water, orange juice, and soma soda.”

Sans declines but you and Paps ended up sitting down at your small two person breakfast table, sipping on orange juice and eating some crackers you had. You weren't sure what you’d been expecting to happen when a skeleton ate, but the food and drink seemed to pass through him as it would any other creature.

It still took you a few minutes to get used to Papyrus’s… enthusiasm, but once you did you ended up talking to him like you would any other acquaintance you knew, about normal everyday things. Well, he did have an above average interest in pasta, but other than that, pretty normal. After a few minutes, Sans brought the computer over and sat it in front of you. It was open to what looked like your typical social media site, and you noticed it was called Undernet.

“What up with this?” You nodded your head at the computer.

“It the undergrounds only social media site. Even if you can’t text me, you can instant message me from this. Just gotta pick a username and password. I sent you an email invitation, so we should be friends as soon as you join.” You wondered for a moment how he got you email address, but you noticed you left it up in a different tab. That was a little weird right?

“YOU MUST ALSO ADD ME! COOLSKELETON95!” You promised him you would, but stared blankly at the screen, not really sure what to call yourself.

“Well anyways, just take you time picking out a ....”

“NONSENSE! I THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL HELP YOU SELECT THE PERFECT SCREEN NAME!” He stood up hastily as he said it, striking a dramatic pose. You couldn’t help but giggle. His energy really was something, but you could feel the last of your own will to stay awake draining.

“What did you have in mind?” You were a bit worried that your fatigue would show in your voice, but if it did, he didn’t seem to notice. 

“WELL, WHAT YEAR WERE YOU BORN?” You couldn’t help the next giggle that escaped you, you definitely knew where this was going. You told him your were born in 1994 and after a small amount of excited ranting about how close you were in age, he finally gave you his name suggestion.

“WHAT ABOUT HUMAN94? IT IS THE PERFECT NAME!” You couldn’t say that you really agreed, but you weren’t much of a social media person, and he seemed so proud of it.

“You’re right, it is perfect Papyrus!” You typed in the name ‘Human94’ and filled in a password. Papyrus showed you how to add friends using himself as a demonstration, and a few of the other features, all while Sans leaned against your wall next to the table. The way you were sitting you back just happened to be facing him, and you hadn’t turned to look at him. You had a feeling he’d definitely notice the tiredness in your eyes, but the longer the two brothers had stayed, the more you realized you were enjoying not being alone.

But you knew that they would have to leave sometime, and you were starting to feel like you might pass out right there on the table. 

“Paps, I think it’s about time we let her get some rest. Besides, didn’t you tell Frisk you would play with her today?” What was it with this guy and his timing? You saw Papyrus’s face fall for just a moment, before he was right back to his happy self.

“BUT OF COURSE! I DID PROMISE FRISK MY COMPANY THIS AFTERNOON!” He took a moment to look at you, and seemed to notice for the first time how tired you really were. “ AND THE HUMAN DOES LOOK QUITE EXHAUSTED.” 

“Yhea I guess I am a little bit,” you said as you tried to stand, and then thought better of it as your legs shook under you. “I could use some rest before work tonight.”

Sans gave you an odd look. “Hey Paps, why don’t you go start the car, I’m just gonna help Nova fix some settings on her computer and then I’ll be right out.”

Even Papyrus seemed to think that was a bit odd, if the look on his face said anything, but he shrugged it off easily. “BUT OF COURSE BROTHER! IF ANYONE CAN HELP WITH A COMPUTER IT’S YOU! FAREWELL HUMAN NOVA! WE WILL HAVE TO HANG OUT AGAIN SOMETIME.”

Since he didn’t want to hurt you again, Papyrus gave you a huge wave and then left, leaving you alone with Sans and not really knowing what to say. Before you could think of something Sans was next to you, offering you a hand to help you stand. Guess he had seen you frail attempt to get up. The bones on his hand seemed thicker than normal bones, and were so smooth to the touch, and despite his size, he seemed unfazed by the pressure you put on it when you stood up.

You tried to offer him a smile, but you knew it must have been pathetic. You were officially too tired to care. “Look, I just want you to know how bad I really feel about this,” He said while walking beside you to your bed, probably to make sure you didn’t fall over or collapse. You tried to look at him but he kept his gaze forward. “Grillby is one of my best friends, and who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t been there. I mean, not to mention that you even tried to treat us like normal people.”

You haven’t known Sans very long, but his voice is so much more serious than what you’ve come to expect, you can tell he’s serious. Or maybe you’re just tired. But despite that, you have to have him understand. You would feel awful if he kept thinking any of this was somehow his fault.

“Sans,” You start to speak as you reach the edge of your bed. You want to sit down so badly, but you don’t want to lose impact from what you’re saying, so you grab the headboard to steady yourself instead. “None of this is on you. Those guys,” You involuntarily stop for a moment as the memories flood back and you can’t help the shiver that runs down your spine, “are just awful people. There’s no excuse for what they did, what they tried to do. But me, I helped out Grillby because that’s what any decent person would do. It wasn’t heroic, it was humane.” You realise that may not be the best term, but when Sans doesn’t seem to appalled by it you continue. “Please don’t feel bad. I’m honestly just thankful. You really saved me back there, and I’m just.. _thankful_. I don’t blame either of you for what happened, and I would do the same thing again to make sure Grillby is ok.” 

Somewhere during your speech you had let you eyes drift to one of the sketches above your bed, your favorite, the one where you drew of yourself laying in a field of flowers. When you finally look back at Sans, he’s staring at you, and you feel like he’s looking straight into your soul. You stare at each other for a few moments, but your legs finally give out and you sit down on your bed, breaking eye contact. 

When you finally look back at him, he has one of those real smiles on his face, the one that makes you feel warm inside. Against your will you body slides down, until you're lying with your head resting on you pillow. As soon as your head hits it your eyes start closing. Part of your brain won’t shut off, screaming at you that this isn’t really socially acceptable, and that you shouldn’t fall asleep with some stranger in your apartment, but it’s not that part that’s winning out.

“Get some sleep kid, you’ve earned it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typos I missed!


End file.
